


Virescent

by CaffeinatedPokedex



Series: Conqueredstuck [3]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Alternian Invasion, Alternate Universe - Dark, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Petstuck, Reverse Petstuck, Serious Injuries, conqueredstuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-10
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-03-17 06:45:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3519362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaffeinatedPokedex/pseuds/CaffeinatedPokedex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sky went black. Internet is down, and you don't know what is happening. You don't have time to wonder as your world cartwheels out from under you. Painful confusion is your reward for trying to put up a fight. It's not looking to a particularly bright chapter in your life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The sky goes black.

You’re island suddenly breaks out in a clamor from all the fauna being disrupted in less than a moment’s notice. Hand on the hilt of your pistol, you immediately head back towards home. You have to warn Jake and make sure he’s not being an idiot. 

This can’t be natural. He might be in danger. Your older brother can take care of himself, you don’t think otherwise, but he has a habit of going head first into danger without thinking.

Your lungs burn, but you’re almost back. You can see the tall house in the distance.

“Jade!” You hear called from the south. Whipping your head in the source’s direction, you locate your brother.

“Jake!” you call out in relief,” What happened?” You look up to the sky as you stop running. Jake closes the distance and leans against you for support. His labored breathing tells just how fast he was running. He must have been just as worried.

“I have no clue,” he admits. “This is definitely no lunar eclipse, but the sky just suddenly went dark none the less.” 

Something like this has never happened here, and you don’t remember ever reading about it anywhere else. You don’t really read a lot about phenomena, you reflect. Maybe one of your friends has. “Why don’t we ask around? You ask Jane; I’ll contact Dave or Rose.”

“Good idea,” he agrees. The two of you head the rest of the way back home at a light jog. You’re too far from mainland to get radio or television directly, so internet is your only affordable option.

Your laptop is ready for you on the dining table next to Jake’s. Sinking into a comfy chair, you quickly open pesterchum.

\-- gardenGnostic [GG] started pestering turntechGodhead [TG] at 15:14--  
GG: Dave :)  
GG: Strider??  
GG: What’s it like outside by you?

You notice a spinning arrow that disheartens you. Your chat client isn’t sending any of your IMs. “Jake? Can you connect to the internet?”

He frowns seriously. “No. I can’t.”

An unvoiced “now what?” rings silently in the air.

The brief calm is shaken by abrupt trembling. The clamber starts dropping beloved heirlooms to the ground and dishes to breaking. You and your brother are well versed in survival, and the obvious first action is _don’t be here._

There’s too many objects and windows here, it’s not safe for any kind of earthquake-like calamity. Escaping to the large mudroom devoid of much but boots and raincoats, you and Jake begin planning long term plans. Before you can get far, large vibrations rip through the building. Losing your balance along with your older brother, light rips through the far wall of the mudroom. It’s so hot, your hair starts singeing and your skin feels moments from crisping.

Jake grasps for your arm to pull you away, but sensation is altogether removed by Bec zapping in and removing you and Jake from the scene. With the slight crackle of static, you land in some city, but noticeably without Jake. 

“Jake?!” you cry, scouring the people who are running in panic for your brother. The commotion of fear is threatening to squash you under its boot as you try to get to your feet. You call out for Jake again, and then Bec. You’re pushed with the current of people and it terrifies you. You weren’t able to grab a rifle either, which doesn’t bolster any confidence. Backup pistols are not your favorite. You shouldn’t have listened to Jake about rounding out your weapon proficiency.

You don’t know what’s happening, and you’re lost without family, and you’ve never seen so many people. You’ve never actually met another human besides Jake and your grandparents way long ago. Are large quantities always writhing like this or is just because of the sky going black and the wireless going out? You don’t want an answer, you just want out.

Fighting crosscurrent, you manage to find the edge and break free from the people, only to see a small army of grey people with horns coming your way in an organized formation. They look anything but civil despite their straight, controlled lines. Sneers and sadistic glee smears across the vast majority of them, and you have to bite down the fear that rises from your stomach. 

Taking out your semi-automatic pistol, you aim and shoot for the legs of the closest soldiers. You need to give those people their best chance against this army. You have four nine-round clips on you including what is loaded. With your amazing aim, that means you can take out 36 soldiers, and that could make the difference for those people.

First shot, teal blood sprays with impressive pressure behind it. It’s like one of Jake’s action movies. The alien drops for a second, but gets back to his feet with a snarl. Breaking from the group, he runs straight at you alarmingly fast. Tapping your finger rhythmically and unloading the full clip, the alien only gets angrier. You even resorted to a headshot, but it ricocheted off.

He’s so close now, you don’t think you can take him down. The others watch coldly as you shoot their companion repeatedly. If only you had your trusted hunting rifle. Releasing the clip and jamming in a new one, you pull the slide and take aim again. Your foe is only ten feet away now, and you know it’s over. Getting in two more shots before he swings a club to your midsection, you crumple to the ground gasping for breath.

You don’t have time to feel dizziness or pain as he swings down a final time and you black out.

~~  
~~

You sit curled up in the scientific center, side pressed to the wall and back to the adjacent one. Sitting like this in the corner is the only way you can tolerate being vertical without feeling violently ill. So much bruising and swelling afflicts your ribs, and your head pulsates pain at the slightest spin. 

You have not seen a mirror since being brought here- wherever here is- but you imagine you must look pretty gruesome. You took a club to the face and it probably mangled the full right side all the way to the nose. You can’t stomach trying to touch it to find out. It hurts too much.

You can run your fingers through the fuzz that makes up all your hair now. You had cried a lot when you first woke up in this hell, hopelessly in pain, and then they shaved off your hair. You can’t see much around you since your glasses went missing. Maybe shattered against your face by the club. You don’t know.

You don’t know anything about this horrible place and these horrible beings.

Your cell is made of solid metal though, and electronically locked from the outside.

You doubt you could even remotely hope of escaping barring a miracle. If only you could reach the panel that seems to control your cage- you should be able to crack the controls. At the very least, figure out which cords connect what and short it. You’re so good with electronics… but you are small and injured and blind.

Squinting to see things wears on you and gives you a headache. Your cheeks and brow ache from it, and you can’t even see all that much anyways. You cradle your head in your arms and sniffle quietly. You miss Jake and Bec. You want to go home.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Super long chapter incoming :D Warning, as with the rest of this series, dark themes ahead. Questioning philosophical themes, injuries suck. This chapter isn't too bad, but it's just a general warning.

You spend each day as you did the last; hungry, sore, and waiting for something to happen. Every bleak day passes with one tray of food being passed through the slot.

Once a day, actually from glimpses through the windows up high you think it’s night, they begin bringing you out to examine you. They run tests, mostly just checking your vitals. They also take blood sometimes, among other samples, and every day holds new test implements like bright lights and x-rays.

You notice they spend a lot of time checking your cognitive aptitude, seeming almost concerned that you may be damaged. You hate how compliant you are through all of this, but you look forward so much to receiving something for the pain.

Sometimes, you can’t sleep it hurts so much to breathe, but after a medical visit, enough edge is taken off you can find short rest. It’s strange for you to be awake for so long without a break. Even your familiar drops into narcolepsy fail as your first ragged breath keeps you aware enough to not feel rested when fully conscious again.

You’re miserable.

Today something finally happens.

Two of the grey people come to your cell not dressed as doctors. The one with short corkscrew horns is familiar, but she is dressed as a business woman today. The other woman is tall and proud, short hair curling around a face angular enough you can make it out from a distance. Her horns slope towards each other until one suddenly and unevenly jags back. 

You feel embarrassed as you find yourself crawling towards the front before you’re beckoned. Your face burns against the air, and you want it to dull again.

The newcomer leans in close as you stop a foot away from the bars, and it’s her eyes that you find most captivating. Dark grey spheres are being dyed green like yours. They look like a barren rock being overgrown by a lush forest. She can’t be much older than you despite her height, you think.

They converse a little, in their own harsh tongue, before the familiar one breaks into English. Your surprise by the choice of language far outweighs the simple statement of,” This human speaks English.”

The elegant newcomer nods and says,” I have that language. I want it.” She backs up and points at you.

“But this one is defective,” the other alien insists before switching back to their native tongue.

What does this all mean? You’re to become a slave? Your stomach curls with uncertainty. You have a fleeting fear that you are to become a food source, but this alien seems too polite. Your brain rationalizes they wouldn’t have wasted so much time on experiments just to butcher you.

“Her eyes are worthy of my station, and her frame indicative of one who can fare for herself. An important trait in my line of work,” she explains, considerate enough to stay in English.

The cell opens and you freeze. You don’t want to go to a new unknown. It’s not that you like it here, but at least you have an idea of what will happen next.

You’re dragged out and a collar is snapped around your neck. A leash is affixed and the handle is given to the tall alien. What, are you a pet now? They give you a dose of the painkiller and are urging you to stand next to the new alien before you can protest any of this.

“What should I name you,” she muses, looking over you as she leads you through the hall.

It hurts to speak, but you protest,” I have a name already.” You think she seems interested, so you add,” My name is Jade, if you’re wondering. Yours?”

She regards you with a sense of wonder, and replies,” A fitting name I suppose. Mine is Maryam.” She looks forwards and is quiet the rest of the way to the front. Exchanging some currency and paperwork, Maryam leads you through the door and into a carriage pulled by pale creatures resembling horse-sized dragons. When you get close enough, you realize they really do look like dragons, and your failing eyesight wasn’t playing tricks on you. There is a chauffeur holding reins for them, and he looks your way as you and Maryam enter the carriage. You look away nervously. These things are practically bullet proof, and you’re about to sit in a confined space with one.

You sit across from her and she unclips your leash. “Are you hungry?” Maryam asks, inspecting her skirt and making it lay completely perfectly. Everything she says or does seems like an arduous task of impossible elegance. She could being brushing her teeth and it would be a piece of art. Upon seeing you nod, she pauses and commands,” Take us to a local restaurant of high regard.”

“I’ve never been to a restaurant before,” you comment quietly. The sudden lift off from ground leaves your stomach in your feet, but it’s steady sailing after that.

“I rarely get the chance,” Maryam says before bringing out an elegant red dress out of her bag. The dress is so sparkly you wonder what the material could possibly be. You can barely tell the shape of the carefully folded dress, it’s thin layers blending into each other.

“What’s that for,” you ask.

She pushes it into your hands and sighs,” For you, my pet. You hardly look appropriate for dining out.”

As your fingers curl into the fabric, and you’re surprised by the softness. The top layers that drape from the neckline, that can’t possibly touch the neck, are sheer and build up opacity with each added shorter layer. The base dress is burgundy and a slim A-line. The stomach and chest area looks sickenly tight.

It becomes apparent she expects you to change then and there. Blushing, you say,” I can’t change like this.”

“Then I’ll have to help,” She says, standing and pulling you to your feet. You groan in distress as she pulls your black tank top up and over, forcing your arms against your bruised face and pulling your skin across sore ribs. With not a second’s waiting, she slips her thumbs behind your waistband and pulls your shorts down. Your knees twine together and your face flushes with humiliation.

Another person has never seen you like this before and you’re so embarrassed how your body has been changing.

“Oh, your bone prison!” She cries as her eyes sweep over your naked body. You keep your head bowed, hot tears collecting in your eyes. She gingerly runs her fingers over your painfully visible ribs. Her hands feel like a cold day against your inflamed skin, and her dancing fingertips would be soothing if not for the awkwardness attached.

“This dress just won’t do,” She hums to herself rubbing your side with a lone hand and picking up the dress. “Much too tight for healing breathing space.” Lifting the sheer material from the burgundy dress, she stabs the fabric with her pointed thumbnail and splits the ribcage area a few inches several times around the dress. Now the empire waist is filled with neat holes, and you’re picturing how self-conscious you’ll be with exposed skin all around your lower chest.

She urges your legs to step out of your shorts and into the dress, then carefully pulls it up past your waist. Sliding your arms through the short sleeves that hang by your shoulders, she clips the back together and whispers,” You’ll be the most gorgeous pet across the whole solar system.”

She bends down and tears the black lace hanging out from underneath her skirt and wraps it gently around your upper waist, tying a small bow. It perfectly conceals the rips and your breathing isn’t too laborious and painful. You do kind of feel prettier, even with your smashed in face and carelessly shaved head.

“We’re almost there, masteress,” the chauffeur announces, and the ride feels less smooth as you’re descending. 

Maryam pulls you to sit beside her and you sit completely on edge. On one hand, her cold body makes the best ice pack this side of the galaxy, on the other hand… She is an unkillable alien of the species that clubbed you and has been testing you for the past week, and she keeps referring to you as a pet.

The landing is rattling, and you regrettably grab on to Maryam to steady yourself. She makes a sound akin to your reaction to seeing a small creature acting adorkable. You let go and hug your arms to your sides uncomfortably. You want to speak up for yourself. You’re not an animal to be cooed over…

...but you are afraid of these unnaturally strong aliens. You don’t have a trusty sidearm. You miss Jake. He’d know what to do. Maybe. At least you’d have a human to talk to, and not fear that every move you make is being evaluated for whether or not you’re usefull and deserve to live.

“Come with me,” She says, rehooking your leash.

No, this is not okay.

Gritting your teeth, you resist being pulled along and protest,” I do not need a leash!” Your battered human body is frail when measured against her casual strength, and you’re easily pulled through the open door and staggering down the steps. Trying to catch yourself, you land wrong and twist your ankle slightly. It’s almost much worse, but Maryam comes back and catches you just before your descent ends in a more cut up face.

“I told you to come with me,” She says, concern licking at the accusatory words like she really just wants to ask if you’re okay. “I- I thought. Oh, please excuse me, I’ve never had a pet before.”

“I’ve never been a pet before,” you bite back, but your bravado leaves your chest tight with worry.

You think she scrunches up her face in disapproval, but you can’t really make it out. Sighing, she turns and pulls you along again. Your aching ankle complies. 

Your black slippers are thin and the texture of the stone beneath you can be felt through the soft fabric. It reminds you of home. The stone is kind of like the fields of scoria that blanket patches of your island. It isn’t deep reddish purple like your island, but it’s bubbly and dense. You wonder if it’s more like pumice or scoria, or if it’s even a volcanic rock.

Ground gazing is a welcome distraction from the stares you receive on all sides by more grey people. You can’t see their eyes in any kind of detail, but you can tell they are staring at you. You can feel the burning sensation of being watched. Like you’re prey. You’ve never been the hunted.

“Excuse me, ma'am, but you can’t bring animals into this establishment-”

Turning sharply to the host, Maryam coldly replies,” I am keeper of our mothergrub, and the protector of our species as we know it. I can do whatever I so please.”

The manner in which the other bows before the two of you tells you that this alien has not made light claims, and that she indeed rests in a place of great power and respect. You are quickly lead to a table, surpassing others that have been waiting. No one says anything about it. 

When you are sat down and handed a menu, you bring it up to you nose so the blurs become squiggles. The boxy squiggles however mean nothing to you, and you set it down on the table. There aren’t even any pictures on the menu. 

You’re sitting across from Maryam in the booth, the leash looping under the shared table, and you’re close enough to see her expressions in pretty clear detail. It helps that her makeup is so perfectly done and her features are defined by pigments. You don’t know how else you’d make out anything on her chalk white face. 

Right now, her brows are drawn up in empathetic dolor. “Would you like me to read you some options?”

“I guess,” you respond. You are a roboticist and nuclear physicist; it feels silly asking for help understanding a piece of paper. 

“I personally am going to have some of the fillet mignon. I hear the antlerbeast of this colony is quite a delicacy.” She seems overly excited about this meal, you think. It’s kind of cute how her face is lighting up- her face is literally lighting up…

“I- I guess I’ll have that too,” you stutter out as you stare at her. What is an antlerbeast? A deer?

“Delightful,” she says with a small smile, raising her hand for a waiter. There are several waiters obviously waiting on her beck and call. One darts over and asks to take orders.

“Two fillet mignon, and whatever the favored drink in this quaint colony is for the two of us.”

The waiter bows and leaves, being gone for only seconds before returning with flutes of something violently pink. You accept with curious caution. You’re wary that this may be some alcoholic drink and you’ll become even more vulnerable than you already are.

You’ve never had alcohol, but you’ve read about it. You’ve read that it smells acrid sometimes, or musty other times… You have nothing to go off really, other than it smells strong.

Sniffing the drink lightly, it smells like fruit. No fruit you’ve ever had, but sweet and fresh.

Maryam daintily picks it up and sips. You follow suit, being pleasantly surprised at how much you like it. 

The wait for food is awkward, not that any part of this pethood has been anything but. You try to keep your gaze trained down on your drink. It’s not like ignoring your “owner” and the surrounding people will change anything… but it beats feeling like you’ve accepted all this willingly.

When the food finally comes, you’re surprised by how normal it looks. You thought it’d be more like the stuff back at the center, the gelatinous blue sludge that you’d began to look forward to every day.

Eating goes by quietly; evidently Maryam likes tranquil meals. The small portion of tantalizing meat is one of the best things you’ve ever ate in your life, and you wonder if this is what it would have been like to eat at an Earth restaurant.

Opening her red clutch, she pulls out what appears to be a lot of money, gauging the waiter’s reaction. “Come now, Jade. We mustn't waste more time before returning to the lull of duty.”

Her eloquent way of saying “we’ve stayed too long, let’s go” amuses you, and makes you miss Rose. Disliking the idea of being dragged along again, you quickly stand up with her and follow. You’re careful not to let slack in the leash vanish. The tender skin of your neck is pretty much the only thing on you that doesn’t hurt yet.

Taking the carriage to a station with large ships, large by your standards anyway, you find out that you’re going to journey into space. You’re secretly really excited by this. You think you were in a coma when you made the journey here, so despite knowing that aliens exist, and being abducted by them, you’ve never seen what space looks like up close and personal.

Maryam observes you as you wait anxiously in line beside her. You’ve been waiting to board the shuttle for almost an hour now. Turns out that being of high enough status to be treated like royalty at a restaurant doesn’t translate to boarding spacecraft.

It does grant the perk of a private room filled with appetizers and bubbly drinks once your are let in.

“You seem restless to be gone from this world. Was it that horrible?”

Most of it was a blur really. Just one long incohesive, painful blur. Your face and chest still are in agony, but with life beginning again, you don’t have time to mope. “I’ve never been in- well, never been awake in outer space before. I’ve dreamed of it for so long.”

You never really mentioned it to your internet friends, but you always envisioned yourself in space, as a part of space. It sounds silly when you try to word it like that, but something about the cold nothingness that holds all of creation in it is just so alluring. To be closer to the stardust your body once was- the iron of your blood that accompanied the death of a mighty orb of fire return to its native world.

“I hope my presence doesn’t sully your experience then,” She says, sitting elegantly in the corner with crossed ankles, exposed to only a small porthole while you sit away in the large open-visor bubble portion. Had anyone else said that, you would have expected it to be sarcastic, but she seems to genuinely mean it.

“Oh, don’t say that!” You don’t want her to feel like you despise her. It’s hard to really hate anyone for you. Well, at least not forever. You don’t think you even hate the alien that clubbed you into submission anymore. He was only doing his job, you suppose, he just needs a firm lecture on why it’s not nice to club people into comas!

You twist around, you have a spinny chair and spinny chairs are great. You wish you could see her expression, because you think she’s staring at you. You’re squinting, but her pale face is still just a swatch of glowing ink.

“Do you require visual aid?”

“Yeah, my glasses were all smashed up, but I couldn’t ask for another pair at the center. The aliens there didn’t speak English like you do.” At the very least, they never responded like they did.

“We call ourselves trolls. When you’ve discovered hundreds of other sentient species across the galaxy, some who’s culture predates your own, the term ‘alien’ becomes a little pretentious,” she says absently, digging through her clutch again. Pulling out a very compact set of binoculars, she hums with victory and extends her hand for you to come and take from. “I found my vocal performance eyeglasses. Perhaps they could help?”

Getting to your feet, you grab the binoculars and peer through them. The world is clear for the first time since you left Earth, if a little too close. You turn until the window’s view of the loading dock is in your lenses, and use your memory to walk back to your chair without having to brake sightedness.

“Wouldn’t want your first cognizant journey through space to be a blur. It’s quite beautiful.”

A voice over the comm system alerts you that you’ll be leaving for space shortly, and you’re so excited. You toe yourself in semicircles, you’re so, SO excited. You need spinny chairs to be a part of the rest of your life.

When the bay doors open, the small craft you’re in comes to life. It’s a little bumpy at first, but the shuttle raises off the ground and through the opening of the bay. You barely feel the acceleration of the shuttle as it hurtles off into the inky void you’ve studied your whole life.

Your island was beautiful for stargazing. You knew all the constellations by heart and could use them as a clock. Jake and you used to roast marshmallows and stargaze for hours, never getting bored. You always felt so bad for your friends being citykids since they always said they couldn’t really see much in the way of stars.

Now you are up in the stars, they are foreign and the patterns shift from your moving perspective. You wish you had star charts so you could start learning the stars all over again without being stuck from one point of view.

The journey takes almost four hours, but you spend the whole time glued to the window. 

When you land, you’re sad that you may never go into space again. Pets probably stay at home locked in some sort of kennel like back at the lab. You almost start crying as you remember you’re to be a pet now, whatever that entails. You had momentarily forgotten that you were owned by another.

“Is there something wrong?” Maryam asks as she leads you out of shuttle. 

Your eyes are puffy, and you look away. You can’t bring yourself to say anything, because you don’t want your voice to break and show off how scared you are.

“Are you in pain?”

You don’t answer.

“Please, I can’t help you if you won’t tell me what’s wrong.”

She stops walking, and so you do too, because you don’t want to strain your neck needlessly.

“I want you to be happy,” she informs you, running her hand over your head in what you assume is supposed to be a soothing gesture.

You glare up at her with all your might and start walking in the direction you had been. She follows, and you tick a small victory to yourself. Taking the lead again, she leads you to yet another carriage.

You look mostly out the window, despite being unable to see much of anything. The landscape is quite colorful for being so dark. You can see the large pink moon, and even larger green one. It’s quite beautiful, even if it reinforces how you will never see your own moon again.

As you land at a cave with beautiful cloth canopies drawn everywhere, you wonder what troll homes are like. Or, perhaps judging from this more cave-y establishment, living tunnels?

“I am the keeper of our mothergrub, and watch over her clutches of eggs until they can hatch and battle for dominance and attention from the lusii that come through. As such, I live in her brooding cave during her season of heat,” Kanaya explains as the two of you enter the cave. The second she enters, her skin brightens enough you can see a good twenty feet in front of you.

Well, seeing is a relative term.

“The babies fight?” you ask sadly.

“Yes, and quite a few die, but culling is a process of mercy. They wouldn’t survive out there if they can’t in here, and this is a much less painful death.”

That’s absolutely awful, and you face displays as much.

“Oh, I know it sounds harsh, but the life of a troll is not an easy one.”

You had already been uneasy by trolls, and with this information, you find yourself putting even more distance between you. You think this upsets Maryam, but she doesn’t say anything.

The trail you’re taking passes over a large hollow filled with specks of color, and upon squinting, you think they are the eggs she was talking about before. “Wow, are those troll eggs?”

“You really do need visual aid quite soon, I’ll see to it you have new glasses by the end of the week. Yes, those are troll eggs.”

“Why are they so many different colors?”

She stops and takes a step down from the path. Offering you a hand, she helps you descend into the hollow of eggs. Now that you’re closer and they aren’t blurring into the dark blue rockface, you can tell what colors they are.

“The burgundy, brown, gold and greens are lowbloods, and they will probably hatch faster. They’re also warmer blooded.” She carefully sets your hand on a bronze shell, and you’re amazed by how warm it is. “The blues and violets however, are highbloods, and thus colder.” Indeed, the indigo egg she gently lays your hand on is much colder.

This is kind of cool, you have to admit. Thinking of how some of them will die makes it very bittersweet though. Maryam helps you back up onto the trail, and shows you to the “living block”, and then the “cooking block”. You figure out pretty quickly that the names are different, but they are exactly what you would expect as living room and kitchen. 

She switches on a large TV that may also possibly be a computer, and sits on her couch. Reaching to her side table, she picks up a sewing project she seems to have been in the middle of and begin working on it as some troll show plays in the background. 

You stand awkwardly, and she pats the couch like she expects you to curl up beside her. She doesn’t interact with you any further though, and you realize that’s the kind of behavior one shows their pet when they come home and want to work on something. You’re not a person to her, she doesn’t have to be conscious of how she socializes with you. You are there for her entertainment when the fancy strikes her.

Frowning enough that it’s pretty painful (but you’re just too upset at this predicament to care), you walk up to her and ask,” What do you intend to do with me? Just let me sit around and wear your dumb dresses?”

She gasps as you grab her full attention. You don’t think she was expecting you to be so forward, if say anything at all. “My dresses aren’t dumb, you’ve only ever seen two.”

“They’re inherently dumb. You can’t shoot dangerous fauna with a dress,” you argue. You actually love dresses, but her liking them too is souring your view of them.

With an affronted ‘hmpf’, she gets to her feet and saunders out the room sassily, biting back,” I think I’ll talk to you later when you’re more reasonable.”

“Good luck!” you call after her. With a frustrated sigh, you plop down on the couch. You notice she left her project behind and are tempted to throw it across the room. You would feel pretty bad about that though, you think… 

You don’t want to be mean, you just want to not have to be here. What does a pet even do? What should you do? You know you shouldn’t just sit around and willingly become a pet. You should fight for your freedom… but how?

She is one of those grey people, even if she is chalk white and glowy, and they can’t die. You have no guns, and no other sort of weapon. You don’t even want to hurt her as it is. She seems pretty nice. You just need a way to get out.

Though… how would you survive out there in that colorful, dark world? Everything is blurry, and trolls sound even more aggressive and terrifying than you’ve seen if the babies kill each other like Maryam said.

Curling up on your good side, you moan as the pain starts coming back. It should be scabbing by now, you think. You’ve been awake for a little over a week now. You’ve never had a wound _this_ bad, but even your big cuts and scrapes have generally healed within three weeks.

You don’t know how long you were out between your last day on Earth and the first day in the center. You know you were out for a long time, because your bangs had been longer, but your wounds hadn’t healed, so you imagine they must have been purposefully aggravating it?

Thinking about it just makes your throbbing head hurt worse.

Perhaps now is not that time to think. Time to sleep, perhaps. 

With struggling breaths, you slip unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

Waking up to a surprisingly bright environment, you pull the covers over your head and curse out the fabric catching your open cuts.

…

The blanket…?

Opening your eyes, you affirm there is in fact a plush quilt keeping you warm. It’s cherry red with pink polkadots. 

Sitting up and wrapping the blanket around your shoulders, you look to the side table and see a pair of pants and beautiful shirt. It’s light green with small blue beads decorating the neckline. It looks like it would sit loosely on you.

You want to put them on, you think it would be easier to snuggle up in the blanket and breathe in a flowy shirt than this confining dress.

The troll strides calmly into the room and sits beside you with two cups of what smells like tea.

She offers you one, but you try to shake your head ‘no’. Your stomach is curling like a snake right now as it does without that pain killer. Withdrawal is dumb, and you wish knowing how it works would make it suck less, but unfortunately chemistry doesn’t work that way.

“Your cuts probably need some attention.”

“They hurt a lot,” you whisper.

With an air of “that settles it” she sets the tea aside and gets to her feet. She picks you up easily, all swaddled up in the blanket, and you feel a little silly. She effortlessly grabs the clothes you’d noticed earlier, and whisks you away.

In the bathroom she carefully sits you down on counter and helps you change into the shorts and shirt- which makes it a lot easier for her to check all of your injuries.

“They said you had a hard time coming out of cryogenic sleep,” she offhandedly states as she presses on your ribs gently to gauge the severity.

“Cryogenic…? How long was I asleep?” 

“Half a sweep, I believe. I could check the paperwork.”

The world seems to stop around you as you stare forwards without seeing. Half a year? You haven’t seen Jake for half a year? Have these aliens been abducting other humans? What about John and Jane… Dave? Rose?! Their sister and brother?

Cold hands on your shoulders gingerly bring you out of it and you realize you’d been starting to hyperventilate, which with your bruised ribs, hurt a lot.

“My dear, are you okay?”

“Half a year has gone by…?” You ask for confirmation.

“Oh, I’m sorry, we’re using different measurements of time. Half a sweep is about one of your years.”

Tears bubble forth as you try to choke out,” A whole year?”

You have to hug the quilt to your chest to help with the pain as you cough from the swelling of your throat. Sobbing is probably the worst response for your healing ribs, but it’s not like this is an especially rational time. She rubs comforting circles on your back and offers her shoulder for you to cry into.

“My brother and cousins are probably dead! The sky went black, and then that beam of light almost engulfed us, and that army was chasing those people… My family is dead. I’ll never see them or my friends again.”

“I’m so sorry, Jade.”

“How can you be sorry? Your people attacked mine! We never did anything to you. We barely even knew you existed!” A charitable ambassador living it up in the 70’s for a year didn’t equal invasion force in Earth’s collective opinion.

She falters as she tries to defend her race. “Troll culture… dictates that we must expand our culture across the stars... Most adults aren’t even allowed back on the homeworld.”

“The homeworld?”

“Alternia- where we are now. Being the keeper of the mothergrub, I am the only adult troll required and permitted to live here.”

Your tears relax to a soft whimper as you think about what you’ve learned. A year ago you were abducted after being seriously injured, and now you’re just waking up from cryo- the last week or two have not been recent to the events of your abduction at all. Others you love dealt with all that a year ago.

You feel so disconnected… From time; so much must’ve happened in your absence. From friends; if they’re even alive, you haven’t spoken in over a year. You’re as good as dead. What if they worried for you? Oh, you want to let them know you’re okay. How can you do that, though? You can’t exactly log onto pesterchum.

Wiping away your tears on your good side, she asks,” Are you okay?”

“No,” you croak amongst your quieter but steady tears. “Yesterday I thought I’d been gone like a month at the most, that maybe I could return to Earth and find my brother…” You wonder where Bec took him. You wonder where Bec is. You miss Bec; he would be able to cheer you up. “... but now I guess everything just seems so impossibly far away..”

“I’m sorry,” She begins, obviously unsure of how to continue. “I didn’t really think about... “

“I want to be left alone,” you request. She already cleaned most of your wounds, so all she has to do is cover your injuries.

Maryam seems dismayed as she hurriedly leaves the room, but you don’t really care. Swinging your legs, you sit on the counter for a good while. It’s too much to take in. You’re not exactly sure what you should feel. It would be so much easier if you had someone to talk to. 

At least your face is numbing. Such pain definitely wasn’t helping how upset you were. Are you…

You are certainly upset right now; however, like your face, you’ve begun to feel numb. It’s like there’s a disconnect between you and what you feel. Examining your hands, you marvel at how you can control them, but they don’t seem like yours.

You spend hours like that, vaguely fascinated that you exist inspite of all this tragedy.


	4. Chapter 4

With her delicate attention to detail, and aggressive concern, you’re healing up quickly day by day. It takes a while, but she doesn’t miss a single day’s worth of making sure you are okay and helping you through the pain. It’s kind of bizarre then, the duality that transpires throughout the average day.

She can’t seem to make up her mind if you’re a person or an animal from hour to hour. She’ll eat at the table with you, and the very next meal uneasily make you eat on the floor. You’re a little confused at first, since you thought you made your point pretty clear the very first night. That confusion festers into hurt feelings and avoiding her when you can.

One day she’ll talk to you like an old friend, but the next she’ll push pet activities on to you. She keeps switching her mind, going from intimate to raising her power distance and being unapproachable.

You spend a lot of your time finding new corners of her home to hide in, until you find a room filled with flowers and vines. You become pretty predictable after that.

Following a thin vine with your fingers, the velvety skin prickling beneath the callouses you call fingertips, you reminisce about your island. In your mind, you think you’ve finally settled on the idea that Bec brought Jake mainland to a new colony of friends to survive the apocalypse. Maybe it’s a sign of your sanity slipping, but you’ve even started to name these other survivors so it seems more real, and at least your brother doesn’t have to be alone.

Maryam pokes her head into the room cautiously. Last time you interacted, you kind of blew up at her for not leaving you alone. You don’t actually want more time alone, you’re already so isolated, but her worrying over you and then pushing you away upon actually getting along is exhausting.

“Jade,” she tentatively calls,” I was wondering if you’re hungry…”

“I’ll pass eating on the floor,” you bite out under your breath. She actually has a little red dish for you in her cooking block.

“I’m sorry, is there-”

“What do you want from me?” You call out. “Am I pet or are we equals, because yesterday you wanted to teach me sewing, but the day before you insisted I sit quietly like a trained dog! So what do you want?!”

“I don’t know!” she yells back, slouching into the door frame. “I don’t know,” She repeats quietly. “I don’t want to be lonely anymore,” she finally decides with a sob. Tears quickly follow.

You’re surprised for a second, but upon reflection you understand. Remembering she is the only adult on planet, and all of her friends moved away, you can see where this is coming from. You’re familiar with being lonely too. You must be almost a sort of loophole, a chance to have someone to talk you, but she sees you as a lesser being. 

Well, that doesn’t make this situation much better. It’s sucky that she can’t have friends, but it’s not exactly like you get to live the dream either. Maybe if she’d get over her troll rules she’d be happier. 

Before you can offer you friendship or point anything out, she straightens herself back up and turns around to leave. Running her hands over her eyes to try and catch as many tears as she can, she absconds without saying anything further.

“Maryam-” you try to call after her, but she doesn’t turn back. Sighing, you return to absentmindedly running your hand over the vines. “I don’t want to be alone anymore, either.”

~~  
~~

It takes you a couple of weeks to get past this rut you’ve found yourself in. You sit around a lot, and it’s hard to get up the motivation to even explore the cave now that you can see it, which you think would be really interesting to you usually. You bet Jake would give his left arm for the chance. Today, though you feel a strange energy coursing through you, and you don’t feel so sluggish.

Maryam will be looking for you soon, you’re sure, so you travel quickly as you make your way through the craggy cave. Very dim light guides your path, and you see thick cords draped from stalactites, leading you to your destination wherever that may be. As you walk down the tunnel, you begin to hear a dull whirring sound.

A sharp clunking sounds at every fifth whir, and you frown as you come to see the rusted machine. It doesn’t sound very healthy, and you approach it to investigate further. The machine is the source of all the thick cables and from a quick once over you assume it’s a generator. It’s enormous, and you suppose it takes a lot of energy to run a cave this large. Your island took a lot of power, but the generator was much more efficient with its nuclear power source.

Carefully looking over the hull, you get a feel for the engine and where it’s safe to open it and take a close a look. The sane part of your mechanic’s brain knows you should shut it down before opening anything, especially since you know nothing about it and don’t even have blueprints- but for some reason, you don’t care about the flags raised as you pop off a piece of the metal housing.

You were careful, of course, and it comes off without a hitch with no surprises meeting you. Squinting into generator, you wish you had a flashlight, but you’re not going to waste your time wanting the things you don’t have- you’d be right back to doing nothing. Pushing up the sleeves on the painfully cute cardigan Maryam crocheted for you, you ready yourself to find out how you can take out more of the hull. If you can’t direct the light in, you’ll just get rid of the barriers.

This is stupid, you acknowledge as you reach into the machine, the sound of metal churning against metal at breakneck speeds can now be felt in your chest with how close you are. You’re already injured enough, you don’t need this tomfoolery.

You press on regardless, feeling a subdued sense of pride as you dislodge another upper section. That allows enough of the already limited light in to see a little more of what’s going on. At least, you can see what’s causing the worrisome clunking that disrupts the efficient flow of the motor. As you watch the cogs and belts, the individual pinions driving each piece of the generator’s systems to help the next, you quickly begin to understand this machine’s optimal functioning flow.

If you could just adjust that gear so the ridges hit there… and maybe replace that band… and well… the more you look at it, the more you find to fix, but it would all be quite simple. You’d just need to shut it down for two hours at the most if you wanted to accomplish all your repairs, and it would be good as new. 

You hear Maryam calling, and your stomach rises to your throat. What will she do if she finds you with her generator stripped like this? Not having time to properly latch anything, you lean the housing back in place and run towards her voice. She doesn’t seem to check on this area much- if at all from the state of that stater- so maybe if you meet her halfway, she won’t even know you’ve been messing with her tech.

Tripping in your frantic run, you hiss at the stinging bite your wrists sustain. Hearing that she’s rounding the corner just ahead of you, you panic and try to act natural. Acting natural includes sweeping yourself over and trying to appear like you were taking a nap- in a very improbable pose- and acting like your wrists aren’t throbbing.

“Oh, Jade, there you are,” She pleasantly chimes.

As you open one eye to see her approach, you notice how illuminated the whole cave is with her presence.

“H-hi, Maryam. Just napping.”

“You’re going to muddy your cardigan,” she chides, coming to your side and picking you up. Resentment burns in your cheeks as she coddles you like a puppy. “I have a perfectly plush bed just waiting-”

You squirm out of her arms, almost upsetting the balance enough to send you to the ground. “Please. I’m not a-”

Setting you down so you don’t hurt yourself, her perfectly lined eyebrows quirk in annoyance. “What has gotten into you?” She looks into your eyes, which probably hold a fair amount of irritation. Letting go of your shoulders and pulling her hands back like she’s been burned, she bites under her breath,” I’m meddling-” Stepping back to create a more comfortable space between you, where she’s not entering your bubble like she owns it, she diffidently runs her fingers through her hair. With her eyes on the craggy ground, she sighs,“ It is about time to touch up your dressings.” Even in her throw-a-way speech, her enunciation is clear.

One of your hands raises up to gingerly brush against gauze you still have to wear. Talking and emoting- existing seems to be enough- pulls open the healing skin constantly. You had almost forgotten the twisted skin under it, even though it constricts how jaw moves now, until she brings your attention back to it. 

When you’re on your own, your image fades out of your mind, but with her staring at you, self-consciousness flares in the back of your mind.

She turns and goes to pat her thigh, like she had been calling you, but her breath catches as she seems to look back at you. Tentatively resting her hand by her side and clearing her throat instead, she calls,” Come now, Jade.”

You dejectedly follow, rolling your eyes as you assume the space just the side and a couple steps behind Maryam.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Science fiction double feature?? Two chapters in one day as thanks for sticking with me through these slow upd8s! Hope you enjoy :3

It's an off hand comment that sets you off. Probably something that wasn't even worth your time to get annoyed by, but it was the last straw on the proverbial camel's back. It's all the little things that remind you she thinks you're an animal that gets your blood boiling.

Enough’s enough, you decide. While she's taking a nap, you set your mind to escaping. With glasses and better healed injuries, you feel like you're finally ready to do something about your situation.

All your exploration had really come in handy. It takes you less than half an hour of wandering through the caves to find the way to the egg chamber. You remember your first night here, being amazed by the confetti of colour all around you, but now you're awestruck. You could not make out the sheer magnitude of this chamber without your glasses, and shining your light over the many shells, you notice how each one is slightly different from it's sibling. The hues all vary so considerably from one to the next, and many of the cooler colors have a smoother texture than the warmer shells. 

Sighing, you acknowledge you don't have the time to investigate further. You need to make your escape before she wakes up and gets curious. 

The mossy grass tickles your ankles when you finally find the exit. Her feet are much bigger than yours, so you had to stuff her shoes with socks before you could wear them and still walk. You were disappointed when you found most of her shoes impractical for trekking in. They were mostly sandals and high heels (which remain a mystery to you). She did have a pair of shoes much like tennis shoes though, past tense being the key point.

You only have a meal’s worth of snacks, a flashlight, and a warm cloak. She doesn’t have any weapons for you to take, which leaves you on edge, but you can’t wish them into existence. You hope that's enough for running away. You wouldn't know; it's not like you had anything to run away from or run to back on your island.

The nighttime sky is gorgeous on this planet, you find as your bespectacled eyes gaze heavenward. New stars already start connecting in your mind's eye, and the moons bounce colors through the misty clouds. Wow, of course you were familiar with multiple moons orbiting planets, but it sure is something to see from planetside. You miss your moon instantly, but these foreign moons are breathtaking. The pink moon is heavily cratered, and the green one reminds you of a billiard ball. 

There is a lot to look at on ground as well. Familiar hues of brown and green, surround you, but quickly fall away to less common colors. Teal rocks call attention and make you think over what the common mineral compositions must be on this planet. 

Darkness is heavy on the dark saturated world around you. With the intense colored light of the moons above, the flora is strikingly varied in color. Some lower plants are predictably dark green, but the bark of the few trees around you are periwinkle, only lit to such a light color by the fascinating pink leaves that glow with the refracted light of shared heavenly color. You wonder if the world around you would even be more vibrant during day, with how much the lighting plays on the strange plants.

Enough sight seeing. You have no idea how much dark is left, but you want to make at least five miles away from the cave before the sun rises. You assume a sun rises. Maybe there is no day.

Picking a direction and walking, you make quick work for about an hour before taking a small break. Walking takes quite a toll on you with breathing bring even slightly strained. For being a planet filled with children as Maryam made it out to be, you're surprised you haven't seen anyone yet. You're glad though, you don't know what you'd do if you did.

After taking a breather, you get back on your feet and keep on keeping on. You're kind of nervous for what the future holds. It's not everyday you run away and find yourself alone on an alien planet filled to the teeth with vicious fauna and bloodthirsty fiends, but you're confident you'll make it. If surviving on that island wasn't the best preparation, you don't know what was.

Light breaks only five hours after you set out, and you have to shield your eyes even from the rays off the horizon. Being stuck in a cave for the last while must have made your eyes vulnerable.

It isn't until the sun has cleared the ground that you realize why trolls seem to keep a nocturnal clock. You quickly notice itching on your shoulders and face as you keep waking, now immersed in sunlight. As the minutes go by, that itching escalates to burning like you held a hot cup of cocoa just too long. As you look over at your shoulder you see the slightest red hue. 

Is that sunburn? You've been exposed for, like, five minutes! You wildly search for shade as the burning gets worse and worse. It's horrifying as your skin blisters rapidly before your eyes. Taking refuge under a large tree that is growing out of the ground, you sigh as the protection from the twinning roots ease the pain to fading tingling.

The cool, damp dirt soothes your irritated skin. You just lie there for several hours, dozing off, soaking up the relief. Your peacefulness ends chaotically.

Claws are pulling at you, trying to drag you back into the light. Waking to full alertness, you give a startled yelp as you see some creature with bone plating and wicked horns. Its putrid breath waves over you and your stomach turns.

Kicking at it, you try to fend it off the best you can, which is turning out to be pretty minimally. Switching from dragging to slashing, it starts to score little nicks on your legs as it rips your skirt to shreds. You feel for anything that could grant to leverage. Fingers automatically curling around some kind of hilt, you swing a dagger right into its jugular, pulling out and stabbing again as it continues to snarl.

When it finally collapses, you realize just how fast your heart is beating. Looking to the the miraculous dagger quizzically, you look around and realize with horror the corner of this sanctuary is filled with skeletons. At least three separate sets of bones from something similar to humans reside there, but one of them has rancid flesh still clinging to it. 

Your upset stomach can't take this revelation, and you throw caution to the wind to leave the enclosure to lose your breakfast. 

Retreating quickly, you start to hyperventilate. Why are the dead concentrated here? Is this some kind of consecrated burial site? Are you trespassing in in someone's nest? Are there a lot of those bone monsters sound here? Oh, why did you leave?

You close your eyes and put these questions out of your mind. There's nothing you can do until the sun retreats, so there's no point stressing about it now.

When you wake back up to nighttime, you are so relieved that you weren’t attacked again during the day. You take the dagger with you even though it gives you the creeps. If there are more of the bone monsters, you need to have protection, and you don’t have a gun- yet. You plan to remedy that.

You’re some burglar looking to ruin people’s day, but you obviously need more supplies than just these. If adults are eschewed, this planet must have many abadoned homes. Sure, they’d be renovated for new generations, but you can’t imagine a planet could completely replace its population in just the span of childhood. Especially since she made note of how hazardous it is, and how many children don’t make it.

Perhaps you could find an abandoned house out far from any other settlement, and make your home there. You’ve lived your whole life pretty independent. You and Jake had survived without anyone else for over half your lives. It will be lonely, you know that, since you won’t have the interent to make friends over, but you’ll make do. No government will have record of where you are, so they won’t be able to deport you once you’re grown up.

Surviving in a hellhole, even one as pretty as this, all alone doesn’t seem like much of a life… but what choice do you have? It’s not like you can get back to Earth…

Stopping in place and gazing to the whispy pink and purple clouds, you realize, yes you can.

You can do anything you set your mind to.

You have a complex understanding of nuclear physics, you love inventive gadgetry. It would take you a very, very long time to figure out the math and you don’t really know where you’d get the materials, but you could make it home if you wanted.

An awful lot in life being dealt your way is no reason to give up home.

You will get off this planet.


End file.
